Everyday actions with ordinary people: Nicole

Updated: Apr 13

Here's another interview with a friend, this time my best friend who I've known for ten years. We chat about her views on climate change and how her work place has influenced her actions! It's a short blog this time, but I hope you enjoy it!

Tell us a bit about yourself

Hey - I'm Nicole! Im 23 years old, live in London and work as a broadcast journalist. I love God, sports, travel and food!

Why do you care about climate change?

To be perfectly honest, I didn't really care about the environment until recently. As a Christian, I knew it was important to steward the earth and not drop litter on the floor etc...but that was pretty much it. But now I have realised that we all have to do more to really save our planet.

Are you doing anything for lent? Why?

I've given up eating red meat (doing well) and using my phone less (not going so well). The reason why I do these things over Lent is because its a really great opportunity to prove to yourself that you have discipline over an area. Last year I gave up social media and from that moment I have massively used it less, proving to myself that I didn't need to go on it as much.

Where do you work, and what is their view on climate change?

I work at Sky News and part of the reason why I have learnt a lot about climate change is because of working there. We are running a campaign called Ocean Rescue which raises awareness about plastic pollution.

So what is it that they are doing?

As a company, we have drastically reduced all our plastic waste....our aim is to go totally plastic free! Once we do it, we can prove to other big companies that they can too. So far, as employees, we are no longer allowed to eat with plastic cutlery or drink with plastic cups - in fact, we don't even sell plastic water bottles so its peak for guests visiting sky! Our whole dining experience excludes plastic and this is just the beginning...

How has this impacted you?

I guess it has just made me more aware of what I can do to reduce my carbon footprint. I no longer drink from plastic bottles and I have drastically reduced how often I drive to work. Everyday I bring my keep cup to work with me and get the train whenever possible. At Christmas I used newspaper to wrap all my presents instead of using plastic wrapping paper. I am very slowly getting there and still have a lot of learning to do, but I do believe that if I do my part, and every person does their part, we could all make a difference.

How can people learn more or get involved?

If you want to find out more about how plastics are polluting the oceans then visit the website. There are so many blogs out there, especially this great one here, so actually there's no excuse to not do anything. The environment is one of the most discussed topics right now, it's being discussed on the news, in schools, in parliament...everywhere! We know what we've got to do but now we must all act!

This is my last 'Lent' interview (Nicole has actually been the only person I interviewed who was doing something for Lent but oh well!). I hope these posts have inspired you to take some small actions in your own lives. All these everyday actions do add up and together we can make a huge difference!

My next few posts will be looking into certain products and sustainable swaps in more detail. So I hope to see you back for that! In the mean time let me know what you thought of these posts and what products you'd like to see me blog about in the future!